Portfolio

Examples of current portfolio companies

Vine Health

Avonmore Invested into the £1.2M seed round of Vine in 2019 in partnership with Playfair Capital (the first £1M+ seed round for an all-female founding team from the Entrepreneur First accelerator).

Vine’s mobile app helps patients going through cancer to track, understand and optimise their medication-taking, symptoms and lifestyle, allowing people to feel more in control of their treatments and its corresponding side effects. Furthermore, with patients knowledge and consent, the platform also collects large-scale data on how particular drugs affect patients’ quality of life, creating crucial evidence for the development of new treatments.

Reposit

Avonmore invested into the super-seed round for Reposit in 2018 Simon Blakey joined their board as an observer.

Reposit offers Renters/Landlords an insurance policy, backed by leading insurance firm Canopius, that acts as an alternative to the often financially-onerous 6-week deposit required for residential lettings, replacing it with a simple 1-week’s fee. This helps both renters, who often have to borrow in order to pay for deposits, but also landlords who can now offer their property to a wider pool of potential renters but with the same security as the traditional deposit scheme. Since launching its insurance-backed product in 2018 the company has seen significant industry update and rapid revenue growth.

RoadMap Systems

Avonmore invested into RoadMap's Series B round in 2018. Founded in 2014 by Mr Ian Vance (now Chairman), Professor Daping Chu (now CTO) and Dr Brian Robertson (now VP Engineering), Cambridge University spin-out ROADMap Systems is developing ground-breaking technology in the field of optical telecommunication and data communication switching. ROADMap’s novel technology and know-how is in wavelength selective switches (WSS) which are an established part of modern telecommunication networks.

Ventrata

A 2017 seed investment, Ventrata (formerly Ticket Group) has developed a next-generation ticketing platform for the leisure and attractions industry. Since launch of the product in late 2017, the company has deployed its software across multiple clients in Europe, US and now Asia and is processing hundreds of millions of dollars in ticket revenue annually. A further funding round was completed in 2018 that included Phil Doye, the founder of IT services giant Kelway, alongside existing investors. Simon Blakey sits on the board.

CareLineLive

A 2017 seed investment, CareLineLive is a next-generation, cloud-based software solution for the fragmented but growing market of domiciliary care services. CLL provides a comprehensive suite of products to service-providers to enable them to manage carer rostas efficiently, communicate with carers securely and bill accurately with a full audit trail. A further funding round was raised in late 2018 and Simon Blakey sits as a board observer.

Chattermill

A 2016 seed investment, Chattermill provides next generation text analytics tools for any type of company customer feedback data, be it tweets, customer surveys, reviews or blog posts and then provides clear, actionable metrics in a user-friendly package. A further £600k investment round was announced in 2017 from existing investors to support the company’s rapid growth and Simon Blakey is on the board.

Since Avonmore's investment Chattermill’s analytics is increasingly being used by fast-growing brand name customers such as Just Eat, Transferwise, TSB and Deliveroo to identify key customer issues and minimise customer churn.

Trouva

Avonmore invested into Streethub (trading as Trouva) in 2013 alongside Index Ventures, Octopus Ventures and Playfair Capital and has since invested further into the company. It further supported the company in its $10M Series A announced in 2017, led by BGF Ventures.

Trouva is an eCommerce platform that helps independent offline shops and boutiques throughout the UK sell their curated homeware and accessory stock online, often far more effectively than through running their own dedicated websites. In 2018 it was announced that it was one of the fastest growing tech startups in Europe and has expanded its services to independent retailers in Berlin, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Madrid.

Virtual IT

Since Avonmore invested in 2002 and 2003, Virtual IT has grown into a profitable multi-million pound turnover business without any need for further equity investment and now pays significant dividends. In early 2017 it announced the acquisition of the managed service business of MBA IT along with Flint IT Ltd and significantly increased the number of seats under management.

Virtual IT provides IT outsourcing services to the SME market on a per seat basis. It addresses common inadequacies in IT support including speed, reliability, security and configuration issues. The customer base includes companies with from 5 to 100+ users over a wide range of industries, with particular focus on service-oriented organisations within and around London.

Specle

Avonmore initially provided seed financing for Specle in 2009 and led a further investment into the business in 2011.

“Simon is one of the best business angels I know. As Chairman of Specle, where we are co-investors, he provides rigorous leadership and governance. Simon is eminently capable both at a strategic and devil-in-the-detail level which is a rare combination.

— Rat Malhotra, Partner, Wren Capital LLP

Specle is the UK market leader in advertising delivery services, delivering over 50% of the UK's national newsprint advertising volume as well as growing volumes in Out of Home advertising. As well as providing dedicated digital and print advertising portals for the likes of Conde Naste and the Economist, in 2018 Specle launched the world's first web-based colour engine for the advertising market on xcolor.io.

Audiense

Avonmore invested into Audiense (formerly known as Socialbro) in late 2012 as part of its seed round. In 2013, Avonmore also participated in a Series A funding round, led by Scottish Equity Partners, that raised $1.8m.

Audiense, a SaaS-based marketing platform which grew out of Twitter-analytics, delivers both detailed and actionable insights on customers, enabling companies to segment their audience more effectively. This has been further enhanced through a partnership with IBM Watson to develop personality insights for Twitter. The company is currently seeing strong growth in the use of its platform from enterprise clients.

Examples of exited investments

“I would wholeheartedly recommend getting Simon on board any early stage venture. Bright, focussed, insightful, probing questions. Not always comfortable for the CEO - which is exactly how it should be! 10/10” 

— Stuart Miller, CEO, Bybox

Bybox

2016 Sale: Bybox is the UK’s market leading supply-chain solution specialist. Avonmore first invested in Bybox's seed round in 2003 and during the time of our investment grew from a turnover of £100k/annum to over £70M/annum without the need for any further equity financing. A successful exit was achieved through an MBO backed by Lloyds Development Capital in 2016 for £105m.

OC Robotics

2017 Sale: Since our initial seed investment in 2001 OC Robotics grew without any further equity financing. It reached a profitable multi-million turnover and became a world-leader in “snake arm” robots; multi-segmented robots able to follow a predetermined, real-time complex path around objects. OC Robotics’s arms can work in extremely confined and/or hazardous environments and a successful sale was achieved in 2017 to GE Aviation.

Removal Stars/Buzzmove

2016 Sale: Avonmore led and investment into Removal Stars (trading as Buzzmove) in 2014 and subsequently invested further into the business in 2015. Buzzmove is an online marketplace that enables consumers to compare prices for all types of removal services. After seeing rapid market adoption and revenue growth, a successful exit was made to White Mountains Insurance Group in 2016.

Commerce Decisions

2008 Sale: Avonmore invested in Commerce Decision (CDL) in 2001, as lead investor on its initial seed round. A further investment was then made as part of its Series A financing alongside Top Technology Ventures and Herald Ventures in 2003.

CDL had a software package called AWARD that helped organizations that made large procurement decisions, such as governments and local councils, manage and audit the bidding process much more effective. The company grew strongly into a very profitable, multi-million pound turnover business and was sold to Qinetic Group plc in 2008.

Tagman

2014 Sale: Avonmore made an investment into Tagman as part of an angel round in February 2010 and subsequently invested further in its A Round that brought on board US VC Greycroft Partners and iNovia Capital, and then again in Tagman’s B round.

Tagman was a global leader in online tag management. Tagman's software enabled agencies and advertisers to manage online marketing tags/pixels - and the data they provide - much more simply and effectively. The company was sold to Ensighten in 2014.

Omega Logic

2003 Sale: In 2001 Avonmore invested into Omega Logic, a transaction processing company for major UK mobile telecom operators.

In the early 2000s, Omega Logic was at the forefront of installing software into major UK retail stores (Dixons, Carphone Warehouse etc) to facilitate electronic top-ups for pre-pay mobile phone users.

As electronic top-ups grew, so too did Omega Logic’s revenues and profits and a successful sale to Eposs Ltd was made in 2003 just 2 years after our initial investment. Eposs was subsequently acquired by First Data Corporation in the USA.

Pout

2007 Sale: Avonmore initially invested into Pout in 2003 and subsequently supported the company through several rounds of financing.

Pout was a cosmetic company that had recognised a gap in the market in the early 2000's for a brand that was sexy, feminine and fun and developed a cult following with minimal marketing spend. Over the period of our investment annual turnover grew to over £8m an distribution deals were made with leading brands including Victoria's Secret and Sephora in the USA. Pout was sold to Catterton Parners in 2007.

Glow Digital Media

2016 Sale: Avonmore initially invested into Glow in late 2012 alongside Project A, a German VC and then in its subsequent Series A which brought on board White Star Captial and Notion Capital.

“If you’re an early stage tech company, you should talk to Michael. He has a fantastic network, has supported us along our journey, and was instrumental at helping us reach the right investors for later stage rounds. I’m very grateful to have worked closely with him.”

— Damian Routley, CEO, Glow

Glow had been working with the Facebook Ads API since 2009. They enabled clients such as Omnicom, Kraft Foods, Best Buy, Ford and King.com to optimise their advertising campaigns on Facebook - a growing channel for marketeers - using the company’s ‘Glow Engine’. In 2012 Glow were one of just 12 firms awarded Strategic Preferred Marketing Developer status by Facebook. The company was sold to Spanish firm ADTZ in 2016 and the combined company renamed ADGLOW.